Chargers head coach Jim Harbaugh said this week that offensive coordinator Mike McDaniel’s job is not in jeopardy, but the former Dolphins head coach knows that won’t necessarily stop people from pleading with Harbaugh to change his mind.
The Chargers are 0-4 after entering the season with high expectations for what the tandem of McDaniel and quarterback Justin Herbert would be able to do on offense. They’ve fallen well short of those expectations while averaging 16.8 points per game and Herbert is only ahead of Jameis Winston in passer rating among qualified quarterbacks.
On Thursday, McDaniel said that he understands calls for him to be fired come “with the territory of the job” but said his focus is only on how the team can get better results on the field.
“When you have high expectations and you’re getting the results we’re getting and you’re 0-4, that’s pretty standard operating procedure,” McDaniel said, via Kris Rhim of ESPN.com. “I would be foolish, or I would feel entitled, if I didn’t expect there to be disappointment. And so, if you want things to change and you want narratives to change, you have to change them through action collectively. If our results are better, that’s the only thing that matters. So it’s pretty easy for me to focus on what I need to focus on.”
McDaniel said he thought Herbert played “the best, most competitive football that I’ve been around him for” late in last Sunday’s loss to the Seahawks, but that success was mitigated by a pair of interceptions and five punts in the first half of the game that the Seahawks led by as many as 21 points. If the calls for major changes are going to end, it’s going to take more than late, inconsequential flurries of good play.